It’s a sad day as the Single-A and High-A regular seasons came to an end last night meaning we are running out of Hot Sheets for two of the levels that often present some of the best buying opportunities. Luckily as we enter the offseason and prices start to cool off that is usually the best time to buy more cards! We’ll get into all of that another time but here is this week’s Hot Sheet, and this time I’ve included players who will get their 1st autographs in the upcoming 2025 Bowman Chrome to help you track them as well.

Any prospect who has had an OPS over 1.000 in back-to-back weeks. Those prospects will be highlighted orange and if they’ve been on this list for three or more consecutive weeks they will be highlighted purple.

Prospects with a base auto over $10 that is down more than 10% over the last two weeks. This is often the best section to look for buying opportunities as you can buy low on prospects who are heating up.

My favorite prospects on the list with an autograph under $10 who weren’t included in a different category above

They may not have cards until later this month but it’s worth monitoring which players in the upcoming release are finishing the season on a hot streak. All players getting a 1st autograph in Chrome will be highlighted dark blue.

*All non-debuted prospects with a Bowman autograph who had an OPS over 1.000 in last week’s games are included (max. age of 23)*

Alfredo Alcantara (CIN) - With back-to-back strong weeks in Single-A Alcantara has now moved into the top 300 hobby ranks coming in at 298th. After struggling his first time through the Complex League in 2024 (63 wRC+) Alcantara has bounced back in a big way this year. After posting a 136 wRC+ there this year in 189 PA he was promoted to Single-A where he has an even more impressive 162 wRC+ in 139 PA. This has the makings of being a pretty sneaky buy on a somewhat unknown prospect in the Reds system since he’s not even ranked in their top 30 by MLB Pipeline. I have to imagine that changes entering 2026 though because the skills have looked really good this year. Alcantara has hit 6 HR in Single-A giving him a .210 ISO while drawing walks in 15.1% of his PA, striking out in 21.6%, and making contact with 75.3% of the pitches he swings at. When you combine his stats across both levels this year it looks like this: .295/.442/.457, 8 HR, 10 SB, 16.5% BB, 22.6% K, 147 wRC, .161 ISO. That’s a strong line for a 19-year-old with no buzz and an autograph this cheap. I wouldn’t go too too crazy since last year was so disappointing but for what it’s worth he looked really good in his professional debut in the DSL a year prior to that. He’s smaller and has sort of a funky open stance with a busy setup but he’s made it work so far, and although he looks like he’s swinging out of his shoes when he takes cuts the patience and contact have been fine since the promotion. I just checked eBay and saw Refractor /499, Speckle /299, and Purple /250 autos all LISTED under $20 AND taking offers. He’s not my favorite prospect but I don’t think he’s a bad value stash for next year at those prices.

Rodney Green (OAK) - I know some people who will be excited to see this one. Green was a 4th round pick in 2024 out of Cal and got a $1 million signing bonus from the A’s. The name of the game here is athleticism and Rodney Green has plenty of it. In his final two seasons at Cal he combined for 28 HR, 44 SB, and a 29.9% K rate. This is who he is. He has the potential for plus power and speed which is the stuff we dream on in the hobby but he has questionable swing mechanics and not a great hit tool. He actually started the year in High-A but was demoted at the end of July after hitting .158 with a 55 wRC+. Since then he’s hit .275 with 6 HR, 5 SB, a .221 ISO, and 127 wRC+ in Single-A. His contact rates are up over 9% and his SwStr% is down 4%. This is absolutely the kind of line you want to see from the Green. The obvious hobby downsides are that you never want to see a player get demoted and being 22 in Single-A doesn’t help your card values. The good news is that the A’s have had some success with this type of player before. Lawrence Butler had a 31.5% K rate and twice as many strikeouts as walks when he was in High-A. The hope here is that Green has the same sort of career trajectory but it will take some work . There’s a long road ahead given the age and level he’s at, and the approach and hit tool concerns are scary, but the power and speed potential is really good for a player who is catching fire and still has a $3 autograph.

Eric Bitonti (MIL)

Angel Feliz (WAS)

Caden Powell (HOU)

Angel Cepeda (CHC)

Kendall George (LAD) - Remember when Chandler Simpson seemingly flipped the hobby’s view on prospects without power? Nobody was buying him because he couldn’t hit HRs but next thing you know he’s making electric plays on TV and his cards went nuts. Well if there’s someone who is next in line for Simpson’s throne the pick might just be George who stole his 100th base last week. He entered the week with 92 on the season and stole 8 more in just 3 games, making 14 in his past 5 games. This year in High-A George is batting .295 with a .409 OBP, 16.3% BB, 15.2%, and a 131 wRC+. There should be no surprise that he has no problem putting the ball in play with just a 6.9% swinging strike % and 82.5% contact rate this year. Now to my surprise he did hit 3 HR the first month of the season which gave some hope there might actually be a little power in the tank, but he’s hit 0 since then over the past four months. Like I said though, Chandler Simpson really changed the game for this type of prospect. While many will write him off because of the lack of power your cards will definitely sell if you’ve got a .400 OBP and can steal 100 bases in a season, and that’s why it’s no surprise that his card prices have more than doubled in the past two weeks. It’s not easy to do it without the long ball but George has officially moved inside my top 200 hobby prospects and deserves all of the credit he’s been receiving for such an impressive milestone.

Jakob Christian (SF) - Figured I’d touch on this since Christian wasn’t in any of my sleeper categories in my 2025 Bowman Chrome article last week but this is only the second week I’ve added prospects from that release to the hot sheet and he’s already a Repeat Offender so that feels like a great sign. Christian was a 5th round pick in 2024 out of San Diego where the 6’5” righty batted .364 with 26 HR in his only season there. Prior to transferring to USD, Christian played for DII Point Loma Nazarene where in 2023 he hit 28 HR in 52 games. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that his best tool is his power. And he’s shown that this year batting .279 with 14 HR, 15 SB, a .205 ISO, and 128 wRC+ between Single-A and High-A. Most of those stats have actually improved overall since his promotion to High-A where he’s hitting .304 with a .266 ISO and 154 wRC+ in 92 PA. Unfortunately with those impressive stats comes a 8.7% walk rate, 34.8% strikeout rate (0.25 BB/K), and 61.4% contact rate in High-A. Although he doesn’t have nearly the same prospect pedigree, his stats so far at age 22 are actually scarily similar to Spencer Jones of the Yankees, meaning that while I’ll be forced to point out all of his flaws there will always be the chance that he goes on an insane power run and his card prices go up. Due to the approach and contact issues he’s not a player I’m personally targeting in Chrome but if he’s really cheap, which he should be, I wouldn’t be mad if I hit something to hold for next year in the off chance he hits 30 HRs, just know that if that happens he’ll also strike out 200 times.

N/A

Sean Keys (TOR)

Cristofer Torin (ARI)

Marco Dinges (MIL)

Jakob Christian (SF)

Pedro Ramirez (CHC) - Friend of the program here as many of you know I was a big Pedro Ramirez guy last year and was able to make some really solid profits on his cards. He’s always been what he is, an undervalued bat who is hit over power, making him a solid player but not especially hobby relevant. He does however go on little runs where you think some pop might be showing up. After hitting 8 HR in 2023, his power fell off in 2024 seeing him hit only 4 all season in High-A. This year he’s back up to 8 HR but he had a run in June where he hit 5 in that month alone. Even though he occasionally gets in those grooves the power will almost definitely be below average, but his contact rate at 87.2% this year is the highest it’s ever been, with an extremely impressive 5.6% SwStr%. One positive is that he’s been more aggressive on the base paths this year swiping 28 bags which is double the amount he finished last season with. At the end of the day he’s a great contact hitter who hardly strikes out, has ok enough speed to steal some bases, and at times will randomly pop a few homers. It’s definitely not the highest hobby ceiling you’ll find but Ramirez will almost certainly make it to the MLB and could do so as early as next year if there’s an opportunity, so his autograph prices are pretty reasonable when you consider that.

Konnor Griffin (PIT) - Does anything really need to be said about Konnor Griffin? He’s been my #1 hobby prospect for a little while now and he rightfully has the most expensive 1st Bowman autograph of any non-debuted prospect. What this kid is doing in his age 19 season is absolutely outrageous. Griffin now has 20 HR and 65 SB across three levels this year and his wRC+ has gone nowhere but up at every stop. 156 in Single-A. 170 in High-A. 182 in Double-A. I remember when he got promoted to High-A and I was like, “nice, maybe he’ll struggle and prices will come down this offseason.” Jokes on me. That was about 10 HR, 40 SB, and $200 on his base autograph ago. He always had the highest ceiling in last year’s draft class and I said in my 2024 Bowman Draft preview that I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished this year as the #1 overall prospect or outside the top 10 in that product. The progress he’s made in his debut season is absolutely incredible and I’m glad to see that the first of those options is the one that came true. FanGraphs keeps Minor League stats back to 2006. Here is every season where a prospect age 20 or younger went 20+ HR/65+ SB: 2025 Konnor Griffin. The end. The man is truly in a league of his own.

Leo De Vries (OAK)

Roc Riggio (COL)

George Lombard Jr. (NYY)

Josh Kuroda-Grauer (OAK)

N/A

Jesus Rodriguez (SF) - Our only purple name on the whole sheet is who other than Jesus Rodriguez, making his third consecutive appearance. And yet his base autograph is still only $13. I get it though, he’s 23, he’s not the best defender, and he doesn’t hit for power. That’s not sexy. But in his first 23 PA in September he’s batting .526 with a .609 OBP. Since the trade from the Yankees at the start of August, Rodriguez is hitting .354 with a 138 wRC+, 10% K rate, 88.7% contact rate, and 5.5% SwStr%. The Giants are still in the Wild Card race and if they need a bat down the stretch it wouldn’t surprise me if they called up Rodriguez this year, especially since he’s already on their 40-man roster. I’ve said this in the past but despite this not being the most hype hobby profile I do think his pure hitting ability warrants his autograph being worth more than it is. When he does get called up I think he’s going to hit right away, and I think it could be soon.

Kemp Alderman (MIA) - We’ve got our first Repeat Offender crossover of the week, Alderman made the list for Double-A last week and now makes it again his first week in Triple-A after a promotion. And he did it in a BIG way. How about 5 HR in 8 games? What a ridiculous week it was for Alderman who raised his season long ISO to .191 and wRC+ to 136. The funny thing here is that when I search his name in my posts a June 12th hot sheet comes up where I said of him, “I think there’s huge power potential here that he hasn’t yet tapped all the way into.” Nailed it. I went on to say that there was zero reasoning why his autograph prices were going down and at the time they were $6.90 on average. Well, now they’ve more than doubled since then. He never got a ton of hobby recognition probably because of the franchise and the fact that he just turned 23, but Kemp Alderman is now a member of the 20/20 club between Double-A and Triple-A in just his second full professional season. He’s earned every bit of that price increase.

Abimelec Ortiz (TEX)

N/A

N/A